


Together (I want to love Steve Rogers like it's 2014)

by Elfarock



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, Hope, I just want them to be happy, I'm a Tony fan trying to fall back in love with Steve ok, Very minor romantic content, just a smidge of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 17:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21060374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfarock/pseuds/Elfarock
Summary: Endgame Fix-it--“And how do you think we’ll manage that ?”“Together.”An old memory resurfaced.--What would happen if just a bit of hope remained ?





	Together (I want to love Steve Rogers like it's 2014)

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve loved Steve Rogers in some MCU movies (Winter Soldier was so good, yall) and hated his guts for a long time since Civil War. I’m tired of it so I decided to force myself to fall back in love with that dude. Here’s an endgame fix-it fic from his perspective. Hope I’m fixing his characterization in that movie and I’m not coming across as too judgmental. Tell me what you think in the comments !
> 
> See end notes for specific trigger warnings

**New York - 2023**

Going to the group was sweet torture. Helping others had always been his goal, these days it was his crutch. Opening up was far more complicated. It'd been five years. Five years since he lost Bucky and Sam, since all that exists had been halved. 

At first the Avengers - or what was left of them - tried desperately to find solutions. Only to fail, again and again. The return of Tony, the arrival of Nebula and Carol, that had brought hope. But none of them had any idea how to even begin to find a reversal.

"I lost my two best friends to the Snap. And I'm no stranger to grief, but I felt like my soul was ripped from me, again. But this time I couldn't take the easy way out, plunging a plane in the Arctic. People depend on me, to reassure, to try and protect what we have left. New members have taken place in our ranks, and I'm trying to open my heart to them, but I keep seeing the dust that's left from my past, and I know I'm just subjecting myself to this again. I applaud your efforts, all of you are doing much better than me." He said, sheepish.

"I keep thinking about the what-ifs. That's the opposite of healthy, but I guess it's 'do as I say, not as I do', right? I have to live with all my regrets now. Regret and fear. But there's a spark of hope that never goes out, in the back of my mind. Guess that's my special something. Eternally hopeful. I'll... I'm trying to focus on it." He continued. 

"Thank you for sharing, Steve. You're making progress, just like the rest of the group. Don’t undermine your own progression, we all have our rhythm." The therapist said. "For next week, could you try to focus on this hope and make active choices to open yourself to the new people you've mentioned? Connections and community are extremely important in recovery. Sharing with us can't be the only source of connection in your life."

"I'll try. Thanks for listening."

Rearranging the chairs for the next group talk helped him put his mind at ease after exposing his thoughts. This therapy was doing wonders, truly. He realized he'd been out of touch with the rest of the population before... Before. Now, every week, he listened to ordinary citizens expose their problems and he found ways to make their lives easier on a day-to-day basis. He was feeling that connection the therapist was talking about. He was part of something bigger. 

**

"Can I grab a bite of that sandwich?" He said, lowering himself next to Natasha on the couch. 

"Go make your own, soldier boy." She responded with a smile. "How was therapy?"

"Fine. Feel like I'm going somewhere, you know? How's yours?" He inclined his head towards the screens. 

"Keeping an eye on the next generation, they're doing as well as can be expected, really. Rhodey's exasperated with Riri and Shuri. They keep blowing up the labs. I hear there's an illegally imported panther up there." She smirked. Something told Steve that the two young ladies had some help infiltrating a panther into the Compound. It was nice seeing Natasha smile again. She'd gone all out into work at first, never taking a minute to breathe. Then Clint had disappeared into thin air, and she'd broken down.

Tentatively, he asked. 

"How is he?"

She took a deep breath. Clicked on the ever present icon in the shape of a bow. Tony had helped design a tracking software for Natasha. She'd been in no shape to do it herself, but knowing where Clint was brought her a semblance of peace.

"He's completely off the rails, Cap. He's killing left and right."

"We can bring him in."

"Like he did for me, all those years ago. Feels like a lifetime." She sighed, turning back to face Steve. "It's not going to be easy."

"We have time, resources and backup. The big baddies are still laying low." She smiled sadly. "We'll get him back."

"Let's get back to the compound, it's getting lonely in New York."

“The Defenders not treating you right ?” Steve asked, laughing. He stole a bite from Nat’s sandwich. PB&J. Got a tap on his fingers for the theft.

“Jones is a delight, can’t stand that Rand dude though. Makes me appreciate our own genius billionaire. If I can never see Rand again, it’ll be too soon.”

“Let’s pack up and go home.” 

Clint’s location blinked, mocking them from the big screen. 

**

Overseeing the selection process was time consuming, but Steve felt confident in the future. Many baseline humans joined the ranks, offering their abilities, from spying to medical personnel. New enhanced were few and far between, but they showed up after the Accords Council revised the Sokovia Accords into a more palatable version. 

The Compound was full of life. New faces greeted Steve nearly every week. Nothing like a major extinction event to motivate new recruits to join.

Natasha and Nebula oversaw the training of new recruits. Colonel Rhodes kept company to the kid geniuses, having experience in curbing the destructive powers of brilliant teenagers. Along with Tony, Bruce and Rocket, they worked on the science and engineering necessary to keep everyone stocked in armor and weapons as well as revolutionizing the world, to keep it turning when half the world’s population was missing. Automated agriculture had been one of their first concerns. 

“Shuri ! Queen Ramonda is calling, why aren’t you answering ?” Rhodey yelled in the open lab space. “Fell asleep. Teenagers.” He smiled at Steve before focusing back on his phone. 

_ “Captain Rogers” _ , FRIDAY’s voice called to him, “ _ Unauthorized personnel at the front gate. He claims to be Scott Lang.” _

Steve exchanges glances with Rhodes, watching the live feed from the front gate camera. 

**

Time travel. A crazy idea. But one that could possibly work. It was their first substantial lead in years.

“We need an expert in quantum physics.” Bruce said. “I’m mainly a biologist, not a physicist. I wouldn't know how to approach this.”

“Hank and Hope, they’re… Gone. I don’t know any other physicist.”

“Jane Foster was taken in the Snap also.” Bruce interjected.

“We need to call in Tony.” Rhodey said. “There’s only one guy I know can learn whatever he doesn’t already know in a couple hours.”

All eyes turned to Steve. 

“I’ll go ask him. Scott, you come with me, You’re the one with the crazy idea.” A smirk.

**

“Hey Cap. Here to check on the kids ?”

“Hello Steve America !” Morgan greeted him.

Retirement suited Tony. He looked rested and happy, balancing his daughter on his hip. His and Steve’s relationship had not been completely fixed, but they’d become cordial, nearing friendly on some occasions. 

“Always happy to see your kids, Tony, but we have a request for you.”

“Something urgent, or can you stay for dinner ? I hear Pepper is teaching Harley how to make a mean lasagna.”

“I’ll leave that up to you, but we should at least tell you why we’re here before anything.”

**

“Time travel huh ? This is a very flimsy theory, Scott. Didn’t you say that Pym’s wife aged in the quantum realm ? So far we have two people who have come back from this place, with very different results. This’ll take time. And even if we manage it, do you have any idea how we’re going to get those stones ? What if we fail ? Again ? It’s been 5 years, Cap, I have a kid. I can’t risk her life on a bet. What about all the kids that were born in this time, the relationships, the work we’ve done ? We might put all that down the drain.”

“Alright Tony, I get it.” They would have to make do without Tony. With enough time, they would find a solution. And they had all the time they needed, if they had time travel on their side. 

His face must have betrayed his thoughts because Tony continued.

“I’m not saying no, Steve. I know I’m not the only genius on the planet, but I’m the one that’s paranoid about making it work right now, right ? I have the motivation.“ He said, cuddling Morgan up to his face. She giggled at him, tugging at his goatee.

“I’ll sleep on it, right ?” He continued. “Let’s have dinner. Pepper will be disappointed to see you shaved your beard again.”

**

Once Tony was on board, it took precious little time to figure out time travel. 

They called all remaining and new Avengers, got as much information on the infinity stones as they could, and formulated a plan.

Thor was called from New Asgard. Taking his failure and his repeated losses hard had changed Thor. His depression and grief were eating at him. The new purpose of this mission gave him some of his drive back. He had braided dark hair into his, committed to remembering his brother. On his arms were tattooed runes, recounting the strength of his people. Taking to the drink with passion had given him quite a gut, and he was now the picture of a strong steadfast man, focused on helping all his remaining subjects to make up for his failure.

They had brought Clint back. He was dark and broody, up until he heard about the plan. Then he was dark and focused. Steve had never seen Clint as a threat to him. But this man that Hawkeye had become, that man was capable of cruelty to get to his goals. His focus was a welcome addition to their brainstorming session. 

They would get the Tesseract, the Mind stone and the Time stone just after the Chitauri invasion. Natasha and the newly returned Clint would use their wily spy ways to get the first two. Wong and Bruce would be sent to get the Time stone. 

The Aether would be taken from Asgard by Thor and Carol. 

The Power stone they would take before Quill could get it. Nebula and Rhodey would go. 

The Soul stone would prove difficult. According to Nebula, Thanos had gone to Vormir to get it. He came back without his favorite daughter. Something fishy was going on in that place. Steve and Tony would go there. 

**

They did it. 

Debrief was emotional. 

Getting the Tesseract and the Mind stone was laughably easy for Natasha and Clint. They just took the case from Tony and intercepted the STRIKE team in the elevator, whispering a quick 'Hail Hydra' to secure their trust. 

Wong and Bruce had a tougher time, needing to convince the Ancient One of their theories. After swearing to replace all the stones to the moment they were taken and name-dropping the future Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One agreed to let them try. 

Thor had a bit of a break down at seeing his mother and brother alive, but Carol was able to center him on the mission. She retrieved the Aether while Thor and Frigga had a heart to heart. Thor seemed relieved after seeing his mother and being able to say goodbye to her properly. He could not do the same with his brother but he took the time to draw Loki's name in runes in the air between them, hidden behind a column. Loki sensed his name being invoked and drew strength from the act of faith. 

Nebula and Rhodey had no trouble at all with the Power stone. They quickly took out Quill and retrieved the stone. There was no Indiana Jones style traps, to Rhodey's disappointment. They celebrated the usefulness of being cyborgs by being the first ones to come back. 20 mins in time displacement and they came back 2 mins after they'd gone. Nebula only had a headache for her troubles. 

Steve and Tony had been quite stumped with the Soul stone trial. 'Give up that which you love.' 

They could not sacrifice each other. There was still far too much unresolved between them. Love was a future possibility, not a current reality. They didn't have enough Pym particles to make another trip. It took far too much time to get to the only solution. 

Tony took off his armor. 

"FRIDAY, darling." 

Steve was shocked. FRIDAY had grown so much in 9 years. She was like a daughter to Tony, he knew. There was definitely love there. 

But would it work? 

" _ Boss, I love you too. I understand. Please… Pl-Please tell Pepper, Morgan and Harley that I love them _ ."

The heartbreak was obvious in her voice. How human she was. Steve felt like a traitor to doubt that her sacrifice would be enough. Especially seeing the tears in Tony's eyes. 

He put a comforting hand on Tony's back. A father killing his daughter, Steve himself felt like crying. 

To add insult to injury, Tony would have to destroy the Iron Man suit to kill FRIDAY. 

He detached a glove from the old Mark 42 he'd modified into his time travel suit. He took a deep breath. And sliced the helmet with a repulsor. 

The suit fell off the cliff. 

They woke up dipped in shallow water, their hands clasped together, the Soul stone resting there. 

Tony had kept it together until they got back to the Compound. And he tried to call his daughter. 

She didn't answer. 

All her files had been deleted from her servers. She was truly gone. 

Tony cried. 

**

They gave the glove to Carol, as she was the most enhanced and currently capable of withstanding its powers. The second she put it on, she screamed in pain. Her arm was being eaten alive by the power. Her flesh was burning, taking on a sickly grey color. She focused her power, her eyes glowing white with effort, and snapped. 

Time stood still. The news channel interrupted its program to a special live. People had come back. They did it. 

**

Two minutes later, a massive ship entered the atmosphere and opened fire on the Compound. Without FRIDAY, no alert sounded. But they all felt the impact of the alien missile, and saw the ship crash into the neighboring forest. 

Non-combattants organized as they were trained, finding a stable part of the building to set up a medical station. 

All new and old Avengers rose up and engaged the enemy.

“Cap what do we do ?” Tony had retrieved the Mark 50 armor of nanobots. The faceplate open let Steve see his red eyes shift into hard steel at the threat.

“Captain, those are Thanos’ ships.” Thor took stood on his other side, all decked out in his armor, beard braided up, bearing the Stormbreaker.

Steve had grabbed his shield at the first impact. He observed the battlefield. 

“We know what they want. We need to find the stones and wield them.”

“Carol’s down, her arm is in a bad state, she can’t snap again.” Bruce’s voice came over the comms. 

“We’ll figure out something. For now we need to find the stones and prevent the enemy to gain any ground. We have civilians in the Compound.”

**

The battle was a nightmare. Somehow the enemy knew their weaknesses, didn’t use any of the tactics they had 5 years before, and anticipated all defensive moves.

They were barely keeping up and couldn’t figure out why.

The answer came from Nebula. 

“My self from 2014 intercepted my memories somehow. I’m truly sorry.”

They were fucked. Nebula was the one to train the new Avengers, she had been part of the brainstorming sessions to find a fault in the Wakandan and Titan battles, to find clues… She was a deeply trusted Avenger, she had all the knowledge needed to bring them down.

“... crk… CAP… hear ?”

A voice crackled in the comms. 

“On your left.”

Portals opened. And the tides turned.

**

“I have the glove ! Does anyone copy ? I have the shiny stones !” 

Peter’s voice hit Tony in the gut. Steve saw him falter and scan the battlefield for the teenager. He covered his back until Tony found Peter not far away. He was under a torn ship wing, keeping cover from the Thanos’ forces. After he checked with Steve, Tony flew there. 

Steve could hear their conversation over the comms. 

“Kid…”

“Mister Stark, you won’t believe what happened ! We were on Titan, and then we were nowhere, and I wake up, and there’s the Sorcerer Mister Strange and he’s doing his swirly move with his hands, you know and then we’re-”

Tony hugged the child to his armored chest, careful to keep an eye out. Steve saw Thor make his way towards them. He joined them also, after struggling against a demented dog alien. 

“We have the stones. What do we do now ?” Tony still held Spiderman in his arms, pushing him in the circle of the three Avengers. 

“We can try Thor, or Quill - Nebula said he was part planet or something ? - there’s not much else to do.”

“Part planet ?” Peter looked extremely excited.

“Quill do you copy ?” Steve tried. “We need you to try wielding the stones. Quick.”

Hulk and Strange were keeping their corner safe, but that would not last forever.

“Huuh… Are you the dude with stars and stripes ? I have a better idea.”

Right, they’d never met. Tony and Peter looked dubious at his ‘better idea’.

“We don’t have time, Quill. Get down here.”

“We managed one stone without a glove, by taking on the power as a group.” Rocket interjected, from somewhere.

Steve shot Tony a look.

_ “And how do you think we’ll manage that ?” _

_ “Together.” _

An old memory resurfaced. 

**

At once all Avengers were called back to their position, and told to join hands. A long line of people formed, all joined in the same purpose. Thor held the glove. Steve put his hand on the god’s bare forearm. On his other side, Tony, with his suit retracted from his hands, took Thor’s wrist.

Thor put the glove on. And the power surged.

**

Thanos was defeated. For good this time. 

**

They sent Steve to put back all the stones. 

He came back.

He had his two best friends back, he had an entire village waiting at the Compound, he had mended bridges with Tony. He had no need for the past. His future was looking bright. 

So did his engagement ring. 

He didn’t want to lose Bucky again. He figured a ring could do the trick. 

**Author's Note:**

> TW : Steve refers to his attempted suicide by plane in the Arctic as "the easy way"
> 
> I love comments, so please don't hesitate to tell me what you think !


End file.
